'Constitutional Package' to benefit Musharraf, Asif and US: Wajih

The proposed 18th Constitution Amendment Bill or Constitutional Package (CP) would benefit President Pervez Musharraf, Asif Ali Zardari, the United States and those judges who had taken oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order, 2007.
This was stated by former Justice Wajihuddin Ahmed while addressing media persons at Karachi Press Club on Wednesday. He said: "Honesty is lacking in the constitutional package... you want to get personal benefits... for Musharraf, Zardari, the US and those who had taken oath under the PCO."
The proposed 'package', which according to PPP-led government would pave the way for reinstatement of the deposed judges in the wake of November 3, 2007 emergency, and would balance the powers of President and Prime Minister, could bring horrendous results, he said.
The document, which he said was due soon in the shape of 18th Amendment, would indemnify the existence of Musharraf and pave the way for future on-duty army generals like General Parvaiz Ashfaq Kiyani to take part in the presidential elections.
The 'package', backed by the PPP-led government which, he said, seemed to have become 'B' team of Musharraf, to repeal Article 58 (2) B and strengthen democracy, was aimed at indemnifying the unconstitutional documents like National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), biggest beneficiary of which was the PPP Co-Chairman Asif Zardari.
"Article 58 (2) B is not an immediate threat to the present government, which is dancing to the tunes of Musharraf," he added. Justice Wajihuddin said that through amending Article 6 (high treason) the establishment on the one hand wanted to punish some judges for validating the military take-overs and taking oath of allegiance to the military regimes, and at the same time want to reward them by giving them constitutional indemnity in the proposed 'package'.
He claimed the proposed 'CP' would deprive the judges of the Supreme Court of their power to issue a suo motu notice and the hot issues like missing persons would also be buried once and for all. He alleged that the government had a permanent demand for what he said "inefficient judges like (Justices) Dogar, Khokar and Abbasi", he said the establishment was increasing the number of Supreme Court judges to 27 by amending the Judges Act, 1992.
He said that despite a lapse of six months the apex court's judges had not raised even a single case of the missing persons. Wajih said if the government was aiming to get some gains out of the proposed constitutional 'package' it would be at a higher cost, and gains would be less than the losses.
Terming the talks of tabling a resolution in the National Assembly and giving deadlines for judges' reinstatement, he said that a "simple executive order" could restore the deposed judges. He also claimed that after receiving a pullout threat from PML-N the PPP-led government had approached the non-active judges on the provincial level and offered several incentives like reappointment etc to them. But the judges rejected the government's offer, after which it had opted for the 'CP'.
Calling for pre-emptive measures before it was "too late" he urged the media, which he said was mirror of the nation, to apprise the masses about the severity of the situation. He also claimed that the government was creating media hype to subside the issue of judge, and some anchor persons were being used to distort mirror of the media.
Acknowledging that the country was facing many problems, Wajih said that it was the eight-year long Musharraf regime which had caused the crises, and not the judges. "Only the ministries of law and parliamentary affairs are engaged in the judges' issue but what are the rest of ministries doing?" asked the former Justice.
On the supremacy issue, he said that in countries like Pakistan, where a written constitution exists, "it is the constitution which is supreme, not the parliament." Parliament is the supreme institution in countries where a written constitution is lacking, like Britain, he added.
He said; "The president, the prime minister, the chief justice, the army chief, people like me and you... all should be subordinate to the rule of law." When asked about his likely response to the 'package' after its approval, he quoted the famous proverb: "Where the laws of men fail, laws of nature take over." He said laws of nature were the laws of a jungle.